Messages

Hello slasher,

always get the original. You'll never know what you get if you don't.

The Flashlight plugin is still available at:
http://www.freie-ressourcen.de/ags/flashlight/

Thanks for using it.

The distance in which the walking character stops before the target character is defined in xoffset and yoffset. So, if you want the walking character to walk closer, then just use smaller values (or 0 Zero) for xoffset and yoffset.

he first walks to the point he was surposed to walk to acording to the foa template and after that he walks to the x, y cord I instructed

You said, that you have the coordinates, so why do you use WalkToCharacterEx and not e.g. MovePlayer (x, y)?

You can find the delphi plugin template on:
http://ags.freie-ressourcen.de/
It is for following AGS version:
  AGS    : v2.60.450 (2.6)
  Editor : v1
  Engine : v12

The engine is now in version 18, so some functions must be added.

You can download the source code for the flashlight plugin with the following link:
http://ags.freie-ressourcen.de/plugins/ags_flashlight_1_2_source.zip

The flashlight plugin was programmed in Delphi without using the AGS script functions. Parts of the plugin are written in assembler.

[Download here]

Hello everybody who was waiting for this great new feature  :o  in the flashlight plugin:

In version 1.2 the state of lighting is saved and restored with the game, so after restoring a saved game the lighting will be exactly as it was when it was saved. No more scripting is needed.

OK, I confess: I just added these few lines of code and changed the version number which was the most difficult part of the update. 

And thanks to all who voted for this plugin.

Download here

Download other AGS scripts and plugins: http://ags.freie-ressourcen.de/

Hello Steve,

If you can convince a-v-o to supply the source code you can debug the plugin, using the compiled game (in windowed mode, natch) as the debug executable.
That's a big if of course. I haven't seen him around much.

The "if" isn't that big, I've already sent him the source code.

The bigger problem is probably that the plugin is written in Delphi, so you must understand Object Pascal and how WinSockets are implemented. For debugging you must switch between AGS, Delphi and the compiled game to sort out wether if it's a scripting problem (that's what I think) or a plugin problem.

I have a question to all who tested the plugin with me a long time ago: Has anyone used it on WinXP? I can't remember. Maybe WinSockets are handled different on WinXP.

[on_event]

Restore a game seems to bypass the "Player Enters (before and/or after fadein)" commands, thereby not enabling the Flashlight Plugin.

Yes, the restore game function bypasses the before/after fadein events but it calls on_event with data=RESTORE_GAME. As this function is also called each time a player enters a room (just like before fadein) you can put there all your code which handles lighting for all rooms:

function on_event (int event, int data){
Ã,  if ((event == ENTER_ROOM) || (event == RESTORE_GAME))
Ã,  {
Ã,  Ã,  // put code to adjust room lighting here
Ã,  }
}

I see in the preview that Scorpiorus suggested something similar.

Yes, now it can be restarted without probems.

I think I used the menu and sometimes Alt-F4 to quit the game. It seems to me that it doesn't matter.

I tried it on a Pentium 166 with Win98SE and DirectX8a installed and the sound stuff worked like on the other Win98 Computer, the difference was that I could always start the game again. So maybe this is a special problem of the other Win98 computer.

I've tried to install DirectX 8, but it told me that it doesn't support this kind of CPU; must be a Pentium or K6 class processor.  

Perhaps CJ can help to get closer to the buggy part, because after first time run neither the game exe nor the winsetup exe can be started. So the problem must be in the common part of the startup code of winsetup and game exe.

Maybe you need some finalization code in your plugin to release reserved ressources. Writing this I got another idea. When I'm back home I test if I can start other AGS games after running your demo game. And I can also test if the demo program is running when AGS isn't.

I'll report the results later.

Damn, this really has me stumped.
a-v-o, if you've got time, could you try downloading this: http://www.lynnemusic.com/gamemusic/dmdemo1.zip (~500kb) and seeing if it causes similar problems on your machine?

No problem with the demo. Level music and jingles, all working. Can start and quit the program for several times without an error message.

I gonna install Win95 on a 486 (100 MHz), then I can test it on that machine, too.

With sound and music disabled I can hear the bird in the forest room. Then I quit and start the game again and it doesn't start, but shows the windows error message saying someting like "This application was closed ...".

[Settings (+ enabled - disabled):]

I have 128 MB RAM in the computer.

More testing results:

Code: ags

SM|BGD|2
--|+--|-
-+|+-+|-
+-|-+-|+
++|-++|+

Settings (+ enabled  - disabled):
S: sound device
M: music device
Audible (+ ok  - silence):
B: Background music
G: broken glas
D: drum
game start (+ ok  - error):
2: start game for a second time after quit game

When the sound device was disabled then I could hear background music, but after I quit game I couldn't start neither winsetup nor the game again. I had to reboot the computer, then I could start the game again.

Could it be implemented in the region like scaling in the walkable area?
Regions have a sound level which could be the same for the whole region or continous between the two different values for front and back.
Characters have a checkbox "ignore room area sound volume".
Then the volume for all sounds that a character produces (footsteps, voice) is adjusted to the current volume.
And a variable giving the current volume level of a character would be good for scripting: something like character[].volume. Then other sounds could be adjusted to the character's sound.

OK, here is a Win98SE report:

At game start there is a short cracking sound.
All rooms are quiet, so sound.
The sound for "use cup" is ok, though.

Checked with another game: There is no cracking sound at game start.

AMD K6-II 400 MHz
Creative SoundBlaster 128 PCI
Win98SE (german)
DirectX 9.0

Tried it on the other computer with Win98SE but only DirectX 6.1. Also the cracking sound at first, but then crash with an error message. So it is definately not for 6.1. Just wanted to tell you ;-)

[import]

export function DiaAddInventory(int item, int where);
export function DiaLooseInventory(int item, int where);

it should be import though, shouldn't it?

In theory DLLs can also be used to add functionality to the editor not only to games. This feature isn't used and there weren't any plans to use it, so that the interface is quite rudimentary. Maybe CJ can give more access to the game source in the editor, so that plugin-DLLs can add functionality to the editor.

This way script editors can be integrated as DLLs or dialog editors, sound and music managers, mask drawing tools and much more.

Just a thought.

I don't request anything. But if you really want to give me something, then feel free to do so. 

Though this isn't really AGS specific...
I think there is a configuration application with which you can setup the decoder with your preferences.
On the page "quality settings" there is an option "smooth playback". Maybe this is what you want to check.

[anywhere in the script outside the functions and before the following function:]

looking at the code again, I think it should better be like this:

anywhere in the script outside the functions and before the following function:
int start_final_animation = 0;

in the interaction which starts the animation:
SetObjectView(0,10);
AnimateObject(0,1,10,0);
start_final_animation = 1;

After the animation is started, control is given back to the player. At the same time the following is executed:

in repeatedly_execute:
if ((start_final_animation == 1) && (IsObjectAnimating (0) == 0))
{
Display("Game Over");
QuitGame(0);
}

in object interaction to stop animation:
start_final_animation = 0;
SetObjectView (0, NORMAL_VIEW);